“The Hobbit” Read-Along, Chapter 19: “The Last Stage”

[Sorry for the lag for this final post of our magnificent Read-Along for The Hobbit. In Melpomene’s absence, I’m filling in to offer my thoughts on the end to Tolkien’s fairy story.]

Chapter 19

The Last Stage

Sing we now softly, and dreams let us weave him!Wind him in slumber and there let us leave him!The wanderer sleepeth. Now soft be his pillow!Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow!Sigh no more Pine, till the wind of the morn!Fall Moon! Dark be the land!Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash, and Thorn!Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!

So sing the elves in Rivendell, to remind us that even in a world with hardship and grief, death, and gloomy victory, even these shall pass, and dreams may be sweet again, and pillows soft, and water sweet and gentle, and dawn bright and strong.